Border Officials Are Soliciting Companies for Real-Time Facial Recognition to Use on Cars at the Border

Once again, the United States Customs and Border Protection wants to purchase new surveillance technology. This time, CBP aims to beef up its border surveillance by using facial recognition on anyone entering the U.S. by car. As CBP continues to expand its surveillance infrastructure, it appears that facial recognition will remain a key part of the agency’s net.

Last week, CBP’s Office of Field Operations Biometric Program Office issued a Request for Information soliciting vendors for technology to capture high-quality facial images of people inside vehicles at inbound land ports of entry. These images would be used for real-time comparisons with the Traveler Verification System, which is a pre-existing facial recognition system that DHS relies on at various entry points including airports and at pedestrian border crossings.

Currently, CBP collects a wealth of information at border crossings including a “vehicle package” that consists of a license plate, scene photo, and biographic information. The new technology wouldn’t replace this. Instead, CBP would use it to develop a two-layer system. Vehicles would start by entering what CBP calls the Pre-Primary Zone where live encounter photos are compared to any “in government holding.” Then, vehicles continue into the Primary Zone where CBP’s new technology would take and analyze photos of anyone who wasn’t already “biometrically confirmed” in the PPZ.

Per the RFI, CBP is open to passive or officer-actuated systems as long as they can offer real-time feedback. In addition, it must be able to filter for non-human passengers, like pets or animal graphics on a shirt, and take usable images of people even in unideal circumstances, like if they aren’t looking at the camera or are wearing hats, sunglasses, etc.

This is far from CPB’s first foray into using facial recognition on vehicles. Last year, The Intercept reported on a different RFI from DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate, which wanted information on running facial recognition on vehicle occupants as they approached border checkpoints. Per the outlet, DHS has tested facial recognition on vehicles since 2016, including at the Anzalduas International Bridge, Nogales’ Mariposa Port of Entry, and Buffalo’s Peace Bridge Port of Entry.

In a press release for Buffalo’s test, CBP stated that it is pursuing facial recognition at vehicular crossings “in accordance with CBP’s Congressional mandate to biometrically record all foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States.” It also stated that facial recognition can stop “imposters” from using other people’s travel documents.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained a 2022 postmortem by DHS on the Anzalduas test. Although the document said that all “stated objectives were successfully met”, pictures were only obtained about 76 percent of the time and only 81 percent of images were usable. It’s unclear where the problems with capturing pictures stems from. However, the RFI acknowledges these shortcomings, stating that, “Human behavior, multiple passenger vehicle rows, and environmental obstacles all present challenges unique to the vehicle environment.”

CBP’s plans to expand facial recognition at the border aren’t ideal for many reasons. First, Dave Mass, director of investigations at the EFF, told Wired that CBP’s one-to-one facial recognition system opens up possibilities where people aren’t matched to their own documents. But in addition, CBP’s hopes to expand real-time facial recognition to vehicles bring up a slew of privacy concerns. As Mass previously told The Intercept, “We have already seen how automated license plate readers are able to create a massive surveillance dragnet of people’s vehicles and driving patterns.”

“If law enforcement is able to add face recognition capture from moving vehicles to the mix, they’ll be able to track not only where your vehicle is going, but who is driving it, and who is in the car with you,” Mass continued.

According to the Anzalduas postmortem, CBP “must significantly increase” the number of images it takes. The RFI seems to be taking that into account as it states the new technology would augment “passenger images in the PPZ” and allow CBP to “capture 100% of vehicle passengers”.

Vendors have until May 30 to respond to the RFI.